How to Become a Football Agent: The Guide

2nd Edition

by Erkut Sögüt and Jack Pentol-Levy

The second edition of How to Become a Football Agent: The Guide is full of unique insights, information and advice that you can get from nowhere else. With co-author Dr. Erkut Sögüt the agent of elite footballing talent, including Mesut Özil, the book encapsulates all the necessary guidance for those wanting to get into the industry, or simply interested in hearing about how the world of football agency works in general.

'How much do football agents get paid?’, ‘How do the transfer and contracts of elite football players work?’, ‘How can players and agents still earn money once they retire?’ – all these and more are well-document in this edition, with the simple format and structure enabling you to pick up all the necessary information.

Building on Football Agent Education’s first book, the latest from the team has more chapters, more practical guidance, and more views of top agents around the world. This includes the opinions of four members (including Dr. Erkut Sögüt himself) present on FIFA’s select football agent commission, as well as example contracts and case studies. In addition, Arsenal Invincible and World Cup winner Robert Pires gives an amazing foreword, adding his views and experiences with agents during his career, and since retirement too.

This book can give you the opportunity and the skillset for a successful career in the exhilarating game of football or indeed any client-based business. No matter your age, nationality or background, being a football agent is only a few realistic steps away.

English Translation:
** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review **

This book contains information that for the most part is not very well known. It also provides the information in a systematic way that makes it easy to understand. I don't know what the previous edition looked like (this is the second edition), but it is said that changes and updates have been made. The book is a practical guide, and a few chapters have been added into this new edition. It has an introductory tone, because the central idea is that this guide can be used even by people new to the subject.

Original Review:
** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review **

This book is intended as a guide for people interested in a career as a football agent. So, I should say at the start that I read it as a football fan who is interested in the role of agents in the game today, rather than as someone looking to break into the industry.

I think it’s fair to say football agents have a mixed reputation among supporters. It’s easy to see the headlines about how much an agent earned from a high-profile transfer and wonder why your club shelled out millions in commission to someone whose role you don’t understand. And, of course, there have been well-publicised examples of agents illegally tapping up young players or misleading players about a club’s interest in them. With all that said, I was interested in hearing the “other side” of the story by reading a book written by a successful football agent.

This book offered a good insight into the work an agent actually does for the players they represent. I wasn’t really aware of what agents do beyond their involvement in transfers so it was interesting to learn about their role in advising players on career management, sponsorship deals, image rights, press and social media, charity work and even taking care of players’ family and guests on match days. I was also interested to find out more about agents who represent managers or other staff, or who are given a mandate by a club to organise part of its transfer business.

I found the chapters on transfers especially interesting, particularly the section on the Bosman Ruling which meant an increasing number of players becoming “free agents” at the end of their contract and consequently having a stronger hand when negotiating new contracts. (Though, as a Liverpool fan, I could have done without the reminder about Steve McManaman, my favourite player at the time, leaving us on a free transfer to Real Madrid!)

Some of the book went into a lot of technical detail about registration and contract regulations for agents, which wasn’t really relevant to me, but I assume would be of interest to potential agents. I also noticed that much of the advice seemed most relevant to agents representing high level players, when presumably someone new to the industry would be working with less high profile players, at least unless they started work at a well-established agency.

Overall I found this book interesting but I thought it perhaps tried to cover too much for a book of this length and consequently didn’t go into as much detail as I would have hoped. I’d recommend it to fans who want a quick overview of what agents actually do to earn the millions your club probably paid them in the last transfer window.

Dr. Erkut Sögüt LL.M., Jack Pentol-Levy and Charlie Pentol-Levy

We're a sports-education company seeking to help the next generation of football agents.

Our book, 'How to Become a Football Agent: The Guide - 2nd Edition' offers a complete overview of the profession and gives the crucial advice needed to succeed.

The team behind Football Agent Education has used their experience and network to compile this must-know information. Representing high-calibre players like Mesut Ozil, llkay Gundogan and Shkodran Mustafi, as well as coordinating numerous on- and off-pitch transactions, they are able to give readers unrivalled advice from previous experiences in this industry.

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